The Matrix

One inconspicuous film that changed sci-fi, changed action, and changed the whole pop culture. A cult that I always enjoy watching again and it will always amaze me again how everything fit together for the Wachowskis: Characters that you care about from the first encounter, a story that is not one hundred percent original but combined in a way that leaves you speechless, and tricks that will blow your mind: the helicopter, dodging bullets, and the final chase. A unique film, no trilogy. Matrix is just one. (04/29/2006)

I’m finally done with the entire trilogy. The first part is the most straightforward and intimate and the one works as a standalone film, but also as the beginning of a saga. A great idea, brilliantly executed and deeply philosophical (I would love to read the philosophy behind the Matrix universe, it could be very interesting. It addresses almost everything, from noetic questions about the possibilities and ways of human cognition, through the creation of one's own ontological system, to the problems of causality and the question of choice). In any case, the first Matrix is a groundbreaking and hugely important film and I could even be more in love with it if I had a fetish for the nice clothes the characters wear. (08/22/2010)

Of all the science fiction films that revel in imaginary worlds, in bending the laws of nature and physics, and in visually loaded, perfectly scored, and all-out action, The Matrix is the most imaginative, the most visually loaded, and the most auditorily bombastic. A visionary work where every detail is absolutely in place and brought to a timeless, seemingly unearthly perfection. 100% (04/18/2011)

In my amateur research into late American film history, I've come to believe that since the 1960s, film themes and approaches have more or less changed by the decade, reflecting the current state of overseas society and pop culture. Each such renewal can be traced in a contextual set of films, whether we look at films from the New Hollywood era influenced by the awakening of society after the Vietnam War, the period of 1980s hedonism overshadowed by the Reagan economic boom, or conversely, the exhaustion and increasing paranoia of the ‘end of history’ of the 1990s. But then, in the late 90s, there wasn't another multitude of films, there was one film – The Matrix. And it set the themes and form of the audiovisual for the next twenty years thus far. All those contemporary films with underground resistance movements, multicultural teams fighting against oppression, the allegories to breaking free from slavery (I've only now run out of all the scenes with Morpheus, culminating in him breaking the chains he's chained with while in the real world machines pick human fruit like cotton fields) and queer manifestos within genre films – it all started here. Most importantly, though, The Matrix activated a hitherto completely uncool subculture of nerds right away by allowing it to be virtually the only group in '99 that could appreciate The Matrix beyond a collection of badass scenes. It wasn't until after The Matrix that it became generally 'in' to watch anime, read manga, play video games, or even just dress up in leather trench coats and roam the streets that way. So it's not true that The Matrix started a new subculture, as is often mistakenly said; The Matrix simply elevated some subcultures. And with that it didn't just stay in a cinematic framework. Since the first Matrix, one can also note as rise in the popularity of gothic and industrial metal, or established rock bands have often begun incorporating electronic influences into their music. Then my other favorite consequence of the success of the first Matrix is the mark it left on the fashion world (and by that I don't mean that anything has changed on the catwalks, but on the streets). While Rob Halford of Judas Priest ensured that hitherto metalheads dressed like a Laakson picture, the Wachowskis ensured that hitherto fetishistic queer fashion was universally accepted as eveningwear. However, the implications of their influence were of course beyond the comprehension of The Matrix, and the film's message, where those who don't fit into the system become a natural part of the struggle against the establishment, where the fight is fought with gloves off because anyone connected to the system is the enemy, became the first stone in the inclusivity of subcultures under the mainstream, a trend that continues unhappily to this day. (05/08/2004)

An excellent film that combines well shot action scenes with an interesting and original story, full of symbols. I got carried away by the action moments (although admittedly I found some of the kung-fu gestures ridiculous) and at the same time I didn't miss the emotions and some of the dialogue scenes were excellent (the scene with the bucket is not to be missed). On my way out of the cinema, I looked around feeling paranoid for a while. I hope that the next episodes will not only be a display of visual effects, but will also have something more, just like this one. (04/12/2003)